England set the tone from the start in their 43-7 win over Canada in the first men's game of the inaugural tri-nation Churchill Cup at Thunderbird Stadium.

The announcer had not finished reading out the two teams when England got on the scoreboard with a penalty try by Dave Walder less than a minute into the game. It came after an obstruction against Canada.

Rebounding from the poor start, Canada got their only try five minutes later on a play started and finished by scrum-half Morgan Williams, who went over at the posts for a try converted by Bob Ross.

Then came the English onslaught, with two converted tries, two penalties by Walder and an unconverted try to end the first half 21-7.

England continued to notch up the points in the second half, adding 22 more on three unconverted tries and in the dying minutes a try by reserve Matthew Cairns that was converted by reserve David Flatman.

Although Walder missed a penalty kick in the first half and failed to convert three tries in the second, England coach Jim Mallinder was still impressed with his play.

"Dave Walder was fantastic in the way he controlled the ball and played to the game plan," said Mallinder.

England's coach praised the tournament for giving young players experience.

But Canada were also loose with the ball, and two England tries were breakaway ones on Canadian turnovers.

Canada coach David Clark said he was impressed with Kevin Tkachuk, who played for Oxford University, and Ryan Banks.

Tkachuk said the game was the starting point on the road to the World Cup.

He said Canada will have to cut down on their mistakes and improve their defence if they earn a rematch against England.

"Numerous times we put good phases together and then we would turn it over or take a penalty. They are such a good team at counter-attacking that the next thing you know the ball is down in our end."

* ENGLAND Counties put up a brave rearguard action but found Romania's physical pack too hot to handle in Bucharest as they lost 45-23.

Front row forwards Petru Balan and Marius Tincu both scored two tries and fly-half Ionut Tofan kicked 20 points as Romania took revenge for their 134-0 drubbing at the hands of Clive Woodward's senior side two years ago.

The Counties, drawn from semi-professional players outside the Zurich Premiership, had a try from Cornwall's Lee Soper, a penalty try and a faultless kicking display from 20-year-old James Moore.

But they could not match the home side for organisation and discipline preached by French coach Bernard Charreyre.

The visitors did not get their hands on the ball at all in the first five minutes, defending against big ball carriers like Brive lock Sorin Socol, Biarritz prop Balan and Toulon number eight Alin Petrache.

After a string of penalties and two close-range scrums, loosehead Balan was driven over for the first of his two tries.

Young Sale wing James Moore got the Counties on the board with his eighth minute penalty with Ionut Tofan replying.

The Counties looked to move their opponents into wider channels and got a grip on the game despite conceding a second try to hooker Tincu, converted by Tofan in the 28th minute.

Tincu's throwing was less effective though, and had been identified as a weakness that Florent Rossigneux exploited after Moore's second penalty on 30 minutes.

Rossigneux stole the ball at the back of the lineout and Romania dived in illegally to stop the London Welsh flanker.

Moore stroked over the penalty to make it 15-9 to the hosts two minutes from the break. They lost the ball at the next restart and conceded another close-range lineout that was followed by three spinning charges and another Balan try.

Tofan's conversion and a penalty in injury time left them 25-9 adrift despite half-an-hour's good work, but there was an instant response after the interval.

Full-back Rob Hitchmough's kick and follow-up forced Romania to concede the throw close to their line and the Counties pack rumbled over with Penzance-Newlyn lock Lee Soper grounding .

Moore converted before Tofan hit another penalty and they then scored the try of the game to put themselves out of reach. A lineout drive was followed by centre Valentin Maftei's searing angled run to the posts and another Tofan conversion.

Hooker Tincu followed up down the short-side for his second score but there was a late flurry from the visitors to reward them for digging in against a side that will tackle holders Australia in the World Cup later this year.

They broke and Romania were forced to drag down drives on their own try-line to concede a 78th-minute penalty try which Moore converted. Tofan signed off with his fourth penalty.